Manami Hamasaki
Manami Hamasaki (浜崎愛美, Hamasaki Manami) is a Dragon of the Inner Circle under the leadership of Horseman Kyōaku Hōritsu and member of V-14's Epsilon Team, which is led by Yashin Shiyōnin. Appearance Manami has the visage of a young woman with long blue hair, blue eyes and considerably pale skin. Her physique is rather feminine, though carrying noticeable muscle mass to indicate her experience with combat. Her attire is various, but a most common wear is a Russian Cossack hat and a dress coat with white fur at the lining. A belt is secured around the waist. She sports knee-high boots on her legs and feet. Personality Manami generally acts in an informal and lax manner not unlike her fellow Dragons. She seems to present a more child-like and innocent attitude when it comes to both ally and enemy, contrasting from what is expected of her position and status. In addition, she is not prideful or arrogant - two traits that a good majority of her colleagues carry. When dealing with the enemy, she is rather playful and teasing even in the heat of combat. However, she is not above taunting or jeering her enemy in order to get under their skin and make them lose their composure. But despite this jovial attitude, she is far from innocent. She enjoys the act of fighting and killing, holding little regard for the value of lives. It is noted that she harbors an attraction towards Yashin Shiyōnin, although whether or not it stems from simple idolization or romantic attraction has yet to be realized. She harbors a particular fascination with knives.I've Come For You, An Inevitable Return Manami's childish attitude can often cause others to undermine or belittle her. While this can lead to underestimation by her adversaries when she is fighting, this can also end up causing her own allies to assume that she is below their standards. Her childish nature, if her Reigai is anything to go by, can also leading to her not taking her opponents seriously enough when the time calls for it.The War of Four: Crossing the Wire There are times when Manami demonstrates a Social Darwinist view behind her disturbingly childish facade. She believes that the strong survive and the weak die. She holds respect for people who can stay true to their role; if one's role is a "hero", then they must adhere to the traits attributed to a hero's character. If one is a villain, then the same applies. She holds resentment for those on one side to apply the other side's traits (e.g. when a hero is bloodthirsty/arrogant or when a villain is remorseful/pacifistic). History Manami was born in Tendan Dākusaido and raised by her mother and father under poor conditions. The two parents ran a diner under the control of a gang, unbeknownst to the two of them. Because the streets were so dangerous, Manami's mother and father made it an effort to teach her the likes of self-defense. According to her, they masked the true nature of their lessons by referring to them as "games" - a main part of how her psyche was warped later on. One of the very first weapons she used was a knife, which she grew rather attached to throughout her life. Although she lived a relatively peaceful life, it was shot down when a rival gang stormed the diner in a raid. Her parents as well as any customers were killed off, leaving Manami behind. Distraught and enraged, Manami brandished a butcher knife and disabled/killed all of the gang members. In an act of revenge and as a result of her psyche snapping, she tortured the ones still alive and disemboweled them to hang their internal organs as a warning for any passerbys. A few weeks afterward, she was found by Yashin Shiyōnin, who was intrigued at the idea of her being able to kill at an early age. She was taken in under his wing and taught the ways of advanced combat. Synopsis Bleach: The War of Four Arc *The War of Four: Crossing the Wire *The War of Four: Aftermath *I've Come For You, An Inevitable Return Bleach: The Cauldron of Black *The Cauldron of Black: Unite the Chosen *The Cauldron of Black: All-Out Assault Powers & Abilities Immense Spiritual Power: As one of the Inner Circle's Dragons, Manami possesses a tremendous amount of spiritual energy. The pressure can easily suffocate opponents of Lieutenant-level and make Captain-level enemies think twice before challenging her. She is capable of fighting two Captains of common spiritual energy simultaneously, comparable to a senior Captain in terms of power. Keen Strategist & Tactician: As one of the leaders within the Inner Circle, Manami is a coordinated and effective tactician. Although not to the extent of her more mature and composed companions, she can plan ahead of time and think several steps ahead from the situation to gain an edge on her enemies. Immense Strength: Despite having a rather normal physique, Manami has incredible physical strength. She is able to cut through and break the likes of things stronger than even the likes of diamond. She is capable of bifurcating opponents with her strikes and cutting through even energized attacks. Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Manami's ability with a sword is formidable and considerable. Her fighting style consists of quick footwork as well as a fencing style of combat, with her attacks fluid and flowing into one another with precision and grace - a deep contrast to her attitude. Her skill is enough to allow her the ability of holding off two masters of the sword at once without any trouble or struggle. Flash Steps Master: Manami's use of Flash Step allows for quick and flexible maneuverability. She can move at great distances within seconds, taking her opponents off guard and striking before they even have a chance to react to her movements. The extent of it allows her to evade for the entirety of a fight - a common taunt used for weaker yet aggressive targets. Zanpakutō Henshin (変身, Metamorphosis) is the name of Manami's personal Zanpakutō. It takes the form of a standard katana with an ocean blue hilt and a circular gold guard. *'Shikai:' The release command for Henshin is "Change Me" (私を変更する, watashi o henkō suru). Upon release, the entire form of the katana shifts into an ectoplasm-like energy that encoats both of her hands. The energy is a brilliant blue in color and constantly glows as long as it is in effect. :Shikai Special Ability: Henshin's special ability revolves around the concept of energy manipulation. Her base and most common usage of this ability is molding her energy into constructs of her choosing and liking. She can convert her energy into a solidified version of her sealed sword, which is capable of cutting through nearly any substance. She can spawn several humanoid forms of energy to rush and attack her targets. She is even capable of taking the shape of anyone she can identify. She boasts the potential of her Zanpakutō to be limitless due to the nature of her abilities. She can only utilize one ability at a time, however. :*'Shisha No Guntai' (死者の軍隊, Army of the Dead): To activate this ability, Manami placed both of her hands on the ground with her wrists touching. From the earth, humanoid entities made from the ectoplasm energy encoating her hands will rise. Each of these entities are featureless with only a basic shape and no noticeable features. These entities can be summoned up to rush the enemy and strike. They cannot be harmed by physical attacks, as attempt to connect will result in the attack phasing straight through the body. However, when a swipe from them can cause extremely painful contractions for any internal organs affected. Multiple exposure to such blows can result in unrecoverable internal injury and death. However, due to their nature as bodies of energy, they can be countered by measures meant for energy attacks. Manami herself has to be careful about how many she summons at one time, for summoning too many can cause a severe exhaust of her energy. :*'Kataku Ketsui' (堅く決意, Hardened Resolve): Manami claps her hands together and slowly spreads them apart from one another to pull out an energized sword from one of her palms. This sword has the shape of her Zanpakutō's sealed form, but as solified energy, its cutting potential has been increased to drastic levels. She can cut through nearly any substance, including that of other energy constructs if concentration of energy within the opposing attack is less than what makes up the bulk of her weapon. However, it can only execute close-range melee attacks and cannot be used to throw Manami's reiatsu as her actual sealed state can. Bankai: Not Yet Revealed. Trivia References